IPMS/USA Reviews Website

Northrop Snark SM-62 Cruise Missile

Review Author

Gary Telecsan

Published on

July 17, 2011

Company

Revell, Inc.

Scale

1/81

MSRP

$21.99

Talk about a trip down memory lane…I first built this kit nearly 50 years ago. The Snark was America’s first surface-to-surface cruise missile, and was developed back when the expense of a manned bomber fleet made missiles seem mighty attractive. It was deployed from 1958-1961, and passed into history without ever having been fired in anger; which was just as well, being that the mean time between failures of its guidance system was less than the flight time to most of the targets of the time.

The actual box art image is not available on-line; I included the photo the web site uses in the catalog.

The web site lists 198 parts, but there are actually only 31, even counting the two crew figures. The mold is still crisp with very little flash, but the kit does show its age. The panel lines are raised, including raised decal outlines. There are ejector pin marks galore, which are easily seen in photos of the base. The launcher base is, well, basic.

North American P-51D Mustang, Part 2

Review Author

Dave Koukol

Published on

October 6, 2022

Company

Tamiya

Scale

1/32

MSRP

$168.00

At the time of this writing, it’s been a week since I penned the “First Look” at this amazing kit, and I’ve now logged 19 hours of benchtime on this baby – 19 glorious hours of relatively problem-free building with exquisitely-engineered parts and crystal clear instructions.

Powerplant

Virtually identical to the Spitfire Merlin, with the exception of several parts unique to the Mustang, the engine’s 80-plus parts all but “fell together” with about 3 hours of steady effort. Detail is crisp and accurate, fit is perfect, and it paints up into a real gem. Only disappointment here is the absence of spark plug wiring – which would be an easy add on another fret of PE.

Cockpit

Not sure what the aftermarket guys are going to do regarding aftermarket cockpits for this fella, since Tamiya absolutely nails quantity and quality of detail. Over 1/3 of build time thus far has gone into this pony’s office – clocking in at a hefty 7 hours.

F7U-3M Cutlass, Part 1

Review Author

Ed Kinney

Published on

July 16, 2011

Company

Fisher Model and Pattern

Scale

1/32

MSRP

$279.00

Big Cutlass

All I can say is WOW !!! I have been patiently waiting (most of the time) ever since the rumors of this magnificent release began to circulate, but when the sturdily packed heavy box arrived, it was like Christmas morning in July. I have long known about Paul Fishers’ talents as a master pattern maker and craftsman, but this thing literally blew my mind. Again, the care in packing carefully with copious amounts of tissue is something we’ve come to expect in all the Fisher releases (kudos to Suzy, V.P. in charge of tissue!).

1977 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Snap-Tite

Review Author

Steve Jahnke

Published on

July 16, 2011

Company

Revell, Inc.

Scale

1/25

MSRP

$14.95

The 1977 Chevrolet Monte Carlo was the 3^rdgeneration of this up-scale marketed Chevy before its eventual downsizing in 1978. At the time, all of the Big 3 had a version of a “personal luxury coupe” in their lineup. The General had a full house mix of PLC’s with the Monte Carlo, Pontiac Grand Prix, Olds Toronado, Buick Riviera, and the Cadillac Eldorado. Vehicles of this era were an odd mix of early 70’s flash, style and inferred performance but with the 5mph bumpers imposed in 1973 and ‘74 as well as increased engine emission controls, performance became a shadow of its former self. The standard engine was Chevy’s infamous 305-2 CID design or optionally a 350-4 CID (California only).

Milestone Phantoms

Review Author

Perry Downen

Published on

July 16, 2011

Company

Iliad Design

Scale

1/48

MSRP

$12.00

Several months ago I had the pleasure of reviewing Iliad’s book, Colors of the Falcons, a thorough examination of camouflage schemes and colors used on Soviet aircraft during the Second World War. Since I rated this publication very highly, I was interested to see if their decals were as good. I was not disappointed.

The subject of this review is Iliad Design’s newly released 1/48 scale “Milestone Phantoms” decal set. As the title indicates these decals allow the modeler to finish a Phantom as one of several significant production aircraft. These include: